Off the Face of the Earth

The remarkable story of a group of Holocaust survivors who hid in one of the world's largest caves.

The night of October 12, 1942, when the Stermers finally ran for good, was moonless and unseasonably cold. The roads in and out of the town of Korolowka, deep in the farm country of western Ukraine, were empty of the cart traffic that had peaked during the fall harvest days. After a month of backbreaking work, most residents had already drifted off to sleep.

Zaida Stermer, his wife, Esther, and their six children dug up their last remaining possessions from behind their house, loaded their wagons with food and fuel, and, just before midnight, quietly fled into the darkness. Traveling with them were nearly two dozen neighbors and relatives, all fellow Jews who, like the Stermers, had so far survived a year under the German occupation of their homeland. Their destination, a large cave about five miles to the north, was their last hope of finding refuge from the Nazis’ intensifying roundups and mass executions of Ukrainian Jews.

The dirt track they rode on ended by a shallow sinkhole, where the Stermers and their neighbors unloaded their carts, descended the slope, and squeezed through the cave’s narrow entrance. In their first hours underground, the darkness around them must have seemed limitless. Navigating with only candles and lanterns, they would have had little depth perception and been able to see no more than a few feet. They made their way to a natural alcove not far from the entrance and huddled in the darkness. As the Stermers and the other families settled in for that first night beneath the cold, damp earth, there was little in their past to suggest that they were prepared for the ordeal ahead.

At the surface, Priest’s Grotto is little more than a weedy hole in the ground amid the endless wheat fields stretching across western Ukraine. A short distance away, a low stand of hardwoods withers in the heat and is the only sign of cover for miles around. With the exception of a shallow, 90-foot-wide depression in the flat ground, there’s nothing to indicate that one of the longest horizontal labyrinths in the world lies just underfoot.

On the afternoon of July 18, 2003, I am standing with Chris Nicola, a leading American caver, at the bottom of the sinkhole, sorting our gear. It has taken us four days, traveling by jet, train, and finally ox cart, to get here from New York City. Our guides, 46-year-old Sergey Yepephanov and 24-year-old Sasha Zimels, are standing next to the rusting three-foot-wide metal entrance pipe that leads underground.

I’ve come here to explore Priest’s Grotto for the first time. For Nicola, a 20-year veteran of major cave systems in the U.S. and Mexico, our expedition is the culmination of a journey that began in 1993, soon after the fall of the Soviet Union, when he became one of the first Americans to explore Ukraine’s famous Gypsum Giant cave systems. His last excursion was here, to the cave known locally as Popowa Yama, or Priest’s Grotto, because of its location on land once owned by a parish priest.

At 77 miles, Priest’s Grotto ranks as the tenth longest cave in the world.

At 77 miles, Priest’s Grotto is the second longest of the Gypsum Giants and currently ranks as the tenth longest cave in the world. Yet what Nicola found fascinating about the cave was located just minutes inside the entrance: Soon after they’d set out, his group passed two partially intact stone walls and other signs of habitation including several old shoes, buttons, and a hand-chiseled millstone. Nicola’s guides from the local caving association told him the campsite had already been there when their group first explored that portion of the cave in the early 1960’s.

“My guides called the site Khatki, or ‘cottage,’” Nicola, now 53, recalls. “They told me that it was settled by a group of local Jews who had fled to the cave during the Holocaust. But that’s where the story ended. No one else could remember what had actually happened there or even if the Jews had survived the war at all.”

Intrigued, Nicola began asking questions in the nearby towns. Western Ukraine is a region where the Gypsum Giants have long been revered as national landmarks and where uncomfortable memories of the Holocaust still linger. Some local villagers told him that, after the Russian troops pushed back the Germans in 1944, the survivors were seen stumbling back to town, covered in thick, yellow mud. Others said the Jews never saw daylight again.

On a later trip, Nicola learned more. “Rumors kept developing that at least three families did survive,” he says. But how had they lived in such an inhospitable environment, Nicola wondered, and where were they today? As a caver, he was awed by the courage and resourcefulness that such long-term survival underground must have demanded. And he was amazed that the story wasn’t better known, even among Holocaust experts.

Back home in Queens, New York, Nicola intensified his efforts to locate a Priest’s Grotto survivor. He added information about the story to his Web site on Ukrainian caves (www.uaycef.org), hoping that anyone searching the Internet for the topic would contact him. For four years he got no response. Then, one evening in December 2002, Nicola received an email from a man who said that his father-in-law was one of the original Priest’s Grotto survivors and was, in fact, living just a few miles away in the Bronx. “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” Nicola says, “I was afraid to even touch the print key in case I were to accidentally erase it.”

Seven months later we are standing outside the cave itself. Our two dozen duffels contain over 200 pounds of photographic and survey gear and enough supplies to remain underground for three days.

“My mother always said, ‘We are not going to the slaughterhouse.’ She said to my brother, Nissel, ‘Go to the forest, find a hole, anything.’ Thanks to him, we survived.”

"‘Go to the forest, find a hole, anything.’ Thanks to him, we survived.”

Shulim Stermer leaned forward across the dining room table as he spoke, his eyes side through heavy prescription glasses. His brother Shlomo, their sister Yetta Katz, and his niece Pepkale Blitzer sat respectfully on either side of him, surrounded by Shulim and Shlomo’s wives and several children and grandchildren. At 84, Shulim is the oldest living survivor from Priest’s Grotto.

After Chris Nicola met that first Priest’s Grotto survivor, Solomon Wexler, in the Bronx, Wexler had introduced him to his Canadian cousins and fellow survivors, the Stermers. Throughout 2003, Chris and I made five trips to Montreal to interview the Stermer family. Over the course of several long conversations we learned that the facts of their story were even more extraordinary than the rumors. The Stermers and several other families had escaped the Holocaust by living in two separate caves for close to two years. The first was a tourist cave known as Verteba. Only later did their group -- which eventually swelled to 38 people -- discover and inhabit the then unexplored Priest’s Grotto, where they lived for 344 days. Though some of the survivors lost touch with each other in the years after the war, the Stermers, their in-laws the Dodyks, and Sol Wexler remained close. In all, we were able to make contact with six living survivors: the two Stermer brothers (Shulim, 84, and Shlomo, 74); their sister, Yetta, 78; their cousin, Sol Wexler, 74; and their nieces Shunkale, 70, and Pepkale, 65.

Shulim Stermer’s ninth-floor apartment was spacious and airy, with high ceilings and eight-foot plate glass windows running the length of the western wall. Hung on one wall was a large, striking photography of the six Stermer children with their parents, Esther and Zaida, taken a few years before World War II. On the dining room table lay one of their most precious family treasures: a memoir of their survival, originally written in Yiddish by their mother, Esther, and then privately published in English in 1975.

“My mother never trusted authority,” Shulim told us. “The Germans, the Russians, the Ukrainians. It didn’t matter. She taught us early on that no matter who it was, if they told you to do one thing, you always did the opposite. If the Germans said, ‘Go to the ghettos, you’ll be safe there,’ you went to the forest or the mountains. You went as far away from the ghettos as you could go.”

In the early 1930’s, Esther Stermer was the proud matriarch of one of the most well-regarded families in Korolowka. Her husband was a successful merchant. It was a rare time of opportunity for many Jews in Western Ukraine; Jewish cultural life and Zionist and socialist movements were thriving.

But with the rise of Nazi power in Germany, and increasing anti-Semitic violence at home, all that soon came to an end. In 1939 the Germans seized Czechoslovakia and then invaded Poland. Threatened by Hitler’s eastward advance, the Russians countered by invading western -- or Polish -- Ukraine. For a short time, a cynical non-aggression pact between the Germans and the Russians kept the region quiet even as the rest of Europe erupted in war. That shaky peace collapsed in June 1941, when Hitler’s armies stormed the border from Poland and rolled across Ukraine’s open plains toward Stalingrad and the oil fields of the Caspian Sea. Almost immediately, German Einsatzgruppen paramilitary units began roaming the country, executing Jews and others at will.

The Stermers’ town of Korolowka was officially declared judenfrei -- “free of Jews” -- in the summer of 1942, and the Germans stepped up their efforts to eliminate the Jewish population. During the holiday of Sukkot, the Gestapo encircled the town, forced the Jews to dig mass graves, and executed them dozens at a time. Though the Stermers and a few other families managed to escape, their fate seemed inevitable. No Jew would get out alive.

“Death stalked each step,” Esther wrote of that autumn. “But we were not surrendering to this fate.... Our family in particular would not let the Germans have their way easily. We had vigor, ingenuity, and determination to survive.... But where can we survive? Clearly, there was no place on Earth for us.”

The true record for surviving underground was set by the women and children of Priest’s Grotto, who never ventured out of the cave during their entire 344-day ordeal.

The longest period of time a human is recorded to have survived underground is 205 days. The record was set in Texas’ Midnight Cave in 1972 by Frenchman Michel Siffre, as part of a NASA-sponsored experiment studying the effects of long-duration space-flight. Yet, in listening to the survivors, Chris Nicola and I had realized that the true record was set by the women and children of Priest’s Grotto, who never ventured out of the cave during their entire 344-day ordeal. Modern cavers require special clothing to ward off hypothermia, advanced technology for lighting and travel, and intensive instruction in ropes and navigation to survive underground for just a few days. How did 38 untrained, ill-equipped people survive for so long in such a hostile environment during history’s darkest era? That was the question our expedition had come some 7,000 miles to answer.

The Stermers’ first underground home, the tourist cave of Verteba, was a temporary refuge at best. At worst, it was a death trap. The cave had poor ventilation and no dependable water source. And the families would almost certainly be discovered when the snows melted in April and the local peasants (many of whom had welcomed the invading Germans) returned to their fields near the mouth of the cave.

“Our situation at that time was really, really bad,” recalled Shlomo Stermer, the younger brother. “We didn’t have any water, and we had to catch the drips that came off the walls in cups. We also couldn’t cook inside without choking on the smoke. We had no idea how we were going to survive.”

Much of the heavy labor fell to the Stermer men: the father, Shabsy – whom everyone called Zaida, or Grandpa – and his three sons, Nissel, age 25, Shulim, 22, and Shlomo, 13. Esther Stermer and her adult daughters Chana and Henia took charge of domestic chores with the help of Yetta, 17, the family’s youngest girl.

Before fleeing with their families to the cave, Zaida, Nissel, and Henia’s husband, Fishel Dodky, had received special permission to collect scrap metal under official protection from the local police. It was perilous, humiliating labor. But their ability to return to their houses, move freely in public, and buy supplies on the black market represented their families’ only lifeline. Week after week, they drove their wagons to the cave under cover of darkness through the deep snow. At the edge of the sinkhole, they descended the icy slopes carrying hundred-pound sacks of flour, potatoes, kerosene, and water on their backs, and then dragged them through the mud inside the cave. Through the winter of 1942-43, the families’ survival hung in a precarious balance between the secrecy of their location and the security of their supply lines. The men warned their families that the Germans were intensifying their hunt for Jews, and in February 1943 the group decided to move even deeper into the cave. They sealed themselves in a low, sickle-shaped room more than a thousand feet from daylight and began to search for a second, secret exit in case the Gestapo attempted to blockade them inside. The Stermer brothers discovered a small fracture in the ceiling of a nearby passage and feverishly began digging with picks and axes. Day after day, the men tunneled upward, finally breaking through to the surface after four weeks. It was the first time many of them had seen the sky in months.

Before returning underground, Shulim concealed their exit with earth and logs and suspended a long chain down to the cave’s floor below. If the Nazis discovered their refuge, his family could escape by climbing up the chain using small kick steps in the walls for support. After roughly 150 days of living in perpetual terror of being discovered, the Stermers and their neighbors finally began to feel they might have a chance of surviving.

Four weeks later, the Jews’ optimism was shattered by the sound of bootsteps and rattling guns. “The Germans are here!” someone suddenly yelled in Yiddish. “They’ve discovered us!”

Young Shlomo was sleeping closest to the entrance of the chamber and was caught helpless before he had the chance to run. In the glare of the Gestapo’s flashlights he could see that others had been captured, too. At the entrance to their refuge, Shlomo’s mother, Esther, was standing toe-to-toe with the Gestapo’s commanding officer. Shlomo could hear her speaking in German.

“Very well, so you have found us. What do you think?” Esther said. “Do you think that unless you kill us the Fuhrer will lose the war? Look at how we live here, like rats. All we want is to live, to survive the war years. Leave us here.”

Sixty years later, Shlomo rose out of his chair to imitate his mother as he quoted her. “I couldn’t believe what I was hearing!” he continued. “Here was my mother, in the middle of the war, standing up to the Germans!”

As Esther confronted the soldiers, stalling for time, the rest of her children and the other survivors slipped away into the dark maze of passageways branching off from the campsite. In the end, the Germans managed to seize just eight of the Jews and began to march them back to the cave’s entrance at gunpoint. Miraculously, six of the prisoners, including Esther, were able to escape and eventually return to their families. But Sol Wexler would soon learn that his mother and nine-year-old brother had been forced into an open grave and shot.

For those who remained inside the cave, the next three hours were spent in a state of terror and confusion. Few of the survivors had kept track of how far they had fled in the dark, and many ended up out of earshot of one another, lost without matches, candles, water, or any idea of how to find their way back to camp.

For the middle son, Shulim, in particular, the shock of being discovered was cataclysmic. When Esther finally found her way back to the encampment, she was horrified to see her middle son lying paralyzed at the bottom of the exit shaft he had dug just weeks earlier.

“I saw that all had climbed through the exit except Shulim, who was sitting on the ground trembling, head thrown back,” she wrote. “I ran to him, spoke to him, but he did not reply. His eyes were glazed, his teeth clenched and he was drooling at the mouth.”

Back in Montreal, Shulim grew quiet when we raised the topic of his breakdown.

“I had a complete shock. It was a miracle that I even survived.”

“I was almost destroyed in the first cave,” he finally offered. “I had a complete shock. I couldn’t talk, I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t take a spoon and pick it up to my mouth. It was a miracle that I even survived.”

It was the worst possible time for Shulim to break down. No one else knew how to open the trap door at the top of the exit shaft. Shulim’s sister, Chana, and Sol Wexler were the first to reach the top, but they were unable to move the logs that locked the door in place. As the other survivors began to bottleneck near the surface, panic set in.

Finally, with one last effort, Sol and Chana succeeded in breaking through to the surface, and everyone rushed from the exit. Outside, the air was cold and wet, and many of the survivors began to shiver uncontrollably. To the north, they could see the Gestapo and their dogs running search grids around the sinkhole looking for a secret exit. Shulim was the last to leave, carried up the shaft on his brothers’ shoulders. Then the survivors slipped away through the grass and fled into the darkness.

Throughout the month of April 1943, the Jews lived like outlaws in their own community. The Stermers moved along the back roads at night between the boarded-up remains of their house in Korolowka and a hidden bunker in a barn.

Desperate to find a permanent refuge, the Stermers’ eldest son, Nissel, sought the counsel of his friend, Munko Lubudzin, a forester who lived in the woods near Korolowka. Though many Ukrainian Christians willingly participated in the Holocaust -- and the Ukrainian police actively collaborated with the Nazis -- Munko Lubudzin faithfully assisted the Stermers throughout the war. Munko told Nissel about a sinkhole a few miles outside of town, located in the fields of a local parish priest. At the surface, there was nothing remarkable about the place. Unlike at Verteba, there was little indication that the sinkhole might contain an entrance to a sizable cave. It was only a hole in the ground where farmers their dead livestock to rot.

Nissel knew there were several caves in the area that had a history of ancient human habitation. Based on this slim hope, Nissel and brother Shulim left Korolowka at first light on May 1, 1943, along with their friend, Karl Kurz, and two of the Dodyk brothers. The men raced through the fields north of town to the edge of the sinkhole. “When we came there, there was some nice, nice grass, like a golf course.” Shulim remembered, his voice rising excitedly. “And then you have a big ravine about 40 feet deep and water used to drip in.”

The men descended the loose dirt at the top using an open old rope, then clambered down the last 20 feet using logs as a makeshift ladder. At the bottom, the mud came up to their knees, and the stench of the rotting livestock made the men gag, but they could see a small opening, about the size of a fireplace. Nissel was the first to squeeze through. Inside, it was completely black, but by the dim light of their candles the men could see that they were in a small room surrounded by large boulders. “After that,” Shulim said, “the cave just kept on going.”

“The cave just kept on going.”

Seventy-five feet farther on, the men crawled into a chamber so large that their candles could scarcely light the walls or the ceiling overhead. After their six months in Verteba, they were now experienced cave explorers. They pulled out a coil of rope, tied one end to a bounder, and began searching the network of passages for a suitable place for camp. Three hours later, disoriented and fatigued, Shulim dragged his foot over a small ledge, dislodging a stone, which rolled downhill and splashed into a clear underground lake. The men laughed for the first time in months: They had found a water source.

“By the time we went into the second cave, I think there was truly no place else that we could go,” Pepkale said. “It was judenfrei. Any Jew who was seen anywhere could have been shot by anybody. It was just a godsend that they found this place.”

Four days later, on May 5, the Stermers, their in-laws the Dodyks, and various other relatives and friends packed up their last supplies and fled to Priest’s Grotto. The group now numbered 38 in all. The oldest was a 75-year-old grandmother; the youngest included Esther’s four-year-old granddaughter Pepkale and a toddler. They descended the sinkhole one by one in silence, climbing hand over hand down the rocky faces and stepping on the slippery wet logs for support. At the bottom, the complete darkness inside the narrow entrance was terrifying, and the youngest children started to cry as they crawled through the opening. It would be the last time many of them would see the sky for nearly a year.

For their new home, the survivors chose a series of four interconnected rooms far to the left of the cave’s main passageways. Compared with the world they had left above them, the initial security of their new refuge must have seemed like heaven. For the smallest children, Priest’s Grotto was the first taste of real freedom they had ever experienced. “We would sing and play in the grotto,” Pepkale recalled back in Montreal. “It was the only I had ever felt safe.”

“Long ago,” Esther wrote of their refuge, “people believed that spirits and ghosts lived in ruins and in caves. Now we could see that there were none here. The devils and the evil spirits were on the outside, not in the grotto.”

It wasn’t long, however, before the Jews’ initial relief was overshadowed by the question of how they were going to survive. Drawing on the lessons of Verteba, the families found a ventilated chamber for their cooking fire, isolated their water sources, and constructed beds of wooden planks. Reestablishing their supply lines was their next urgent priority. The men had lost their scrap-metal exemption, and there was only enough kerosene, flour, and other supplies to last two weeks.

The three Stermer brothers made their first foray out of the cave accompanied by several other men. At the top of the sinkhole they sprinted through the high grass to the edge of the woods a thousand feet away, where they crouched down and waited. Overhead, a thin crescent moon lay hidden behind a dark skin of low clouds, and the wind blew across the plains with a persistent moan. From behind the trees, Nissel scanned the horizon to see if anyone had seen them come out of the sinkhole. But the landscape was quiet, a few smoldering buildings the only signs of life.

On Nissel’s cue, the men scattered into the woods and began to dismember 20 large trees, working frantically with axes and saws in almost total darkness. Half the men chopped off the branches and cut the trunks into five-foot lengths, while the others carried the logs back to the cave across the open fields.

“This was terrible danger,” Shulim exclaimed. “You hear ...you listen. And you hear the cutting with the ax: ‘Pow! Boom! Bam!’ So much noise!” As he spoke, Shulim cut his hands through the air, a sense of defiance still lingering in his voice.

Their second covert mission took place a few days later. The men left the cave as a group and then split up at the edge of the sinkhole to secure food and other vital reserves for their own individual families. Nissel and Shulim sprinted west through the fields, staying near the trees for cover. It was a three-mile round-trip journey from Priest’s Grotto to their friend Munko Lubudzin’s house, where the brothers traded a few remaining valuables for cooking oil, detergent, matches and flour.

“When we got out, there was the Big Dipper,” Shulim told us when we asked how they kept time without watches. “The Big Dipper was like that” -- in the empty space in front of him, he circumscribed a wide arc with his arms across the table. “It was turning, turning, and when it was almost horizontal we knew it would soon be morning. We knew we had to get back.”

The next day, the men slept for 20 uninterrupted hours.

When Nissel, Shulim, and the other men finally returned to the cave, they whispered a password to one of the younger boys, posted just inside of the entrance, who quickly dislodged a large boulder to let them back in.

The next day, the men slept for 20 uninterrupted hours, while Esther and her daughters piled the Stermers’ rations neatly upon shelves they’d built under their wooden bunks. In all, the men had secured enough supplies for another six weeks.

As Shulim finished his story, Yetta turned to face him. She had been watching her older brother intently while he spoke. “We wouldn’t be alive today if it weren’t for them!” she finally burst out through a surge of tears. “Every time we needed something, they brought the flour and potatoes so I could make the soup.”

Shulim smiled at his sister.

“Yetta made the best soup in the world,” he said softly.

As summer 1943 arrived, World War II raged across Europe more fiercely than ever. Poland’s remaining ghettos were liquidated and Jewish resistance crushed. All the while, the Stermers and their neighbors lived in a state of near-hibernation under the fields of Ukraine. The combination of the cave’s naturally high humidity and the moisture from their own respiration kept their tattered clothes constantly damp; even the slightest breeze could induce hypothermia. They slept for up to 22 hours at a time, lying side by side on their plank beds and rising only to eat, relieve themselves, or attend to other rudiments of staying alive.

The combination of stress and sensory deprivation the Jews endured was almost without parallel.

Survival expert Kenneth Kamler, M.D., author of Surviving the Extremes, believes the combination of stress and sensory deprivation the Jews endured was almost without parallel. “Their experience was analogous to long-duration spaceflight. They had no day-night rhythm, and because of the lack of light, slept for extensive periods, but they could never relax.”

During their waking hours, the Stermers worked on improving their home, digging stairs and trenches to make walking easier. They limited their use of candles and lanterns to two or three brief periods each day, often working in complete darkness. The family obeyed a chain of command that began with Esther and extended down through her eldest sons with military precision. In explorer Ernest Shackleton’s account of his ship’s long imprisonment in the Antarctic sea ice, he stressed the importance of maintaining shipboard routines and adhering to a strict code of responsibilities. Esther’s memoir reveals a similar attitude toward discipline. “Inside our cave, each one of us did his assigned duties,” she writes. “We cooked, we washed, we made needed repairs. Cleanliness was of the utmost importance. Life in our grotto went on with its own normality.”

In early July, however, the survivors’ rising confidence was shattered by the sound of one of the Dodyk men screaming.

“The entrance to the cave is blocked!” he shouted, scrambling into Khatki. “We will die here of starvation!”

The other men jumped from their beds and crawled quickly to the entrance, discovering a wall of earth and boulders trapping them inside. From underground, it was impossible to know if some of the men had been spotted in the woods, or if a Gestapo patrol had followed their tracks to the entrance. Instead of storming the entrance, whoever it was had simply sealed them in.

The men found a narrow gap between two rocks a few feet from the blocked entrance and frantically started to dig for daylight. For the next three nights they tunneled upward, chiseling away at the stones at the loose fracture gradually turned toward the ceiling. On the fourth day, Nissel pried a large rock from the top of the shaft and felt the wind rush in from outside, carrying with it the warm, tangy aroma of a passing thunderstorm.

A group of Ukrainian villagers had blocked the entrance to the cave.

The survivors later learned that a group of Ukrainian villagers had worked with picks and shovels until they filled the ravine and blocked the entrance to the cave. “Some of the Ukrainians helped us to survive,” Shulim said simply. “But some of them were very bad.”

With their refuge no longer a secret, the Jews stood steady guard with sickles and axes at the bottom of the entrance shaft and listened constantly for the sound of strange voices. It was impossible to know whether the Nazis or local police were planning to ambush the cave or if they had given its inhabitants up for dead.

Nissel and Shulim ventured even deeper into the cave’s labyrinths, looking desperately for a breach where they could begin digging for a secret exit. By this time the two oldest brothers were finely attuned to the state of sensory deprivation underground. They could walk for hours without tracing their steps, recognizing each passageway merely by feel. It took two weeks to find a suitable spot, and more weeks to tunnel through layers of rock, gravel, and clay. As they reached the 50-foot mark, however, the shaft started to collapse, showering the men with rock and debris. After two serious cave-ins, they gave up for good.

Though exhausted from their failed effort, the Jews could no longer put off restocking their supplies for another long winter. The plains of Ukraine yield an unimaginable bounty every September and October. Yet the risk of being caught above ground had never been greater. The lack of food over the summer had made the men weak, and during harvest the nearby fields were crowded with farmers and prowled by Nazi patrols.

“In the fall the farmers harvested potatoes and made big pile,” Shulim said. “Twelve of us went out with sacks and carried potatoes all night long. We would come up to a pile and say, ‘Good evening. Is anyone there?’ And if no one answered, we would get to work.” The men collected enough potatoes to last through the winter and hauled them to Priest’s Grotto, where the younger boys and women were waiting to drag them back to Khatki.

On November 10, 1943, the older Stermer men went to their friend, Semen Sawkie, who, like Munko Lubudzin, faithfully sold them food and fuel throughout the war. Sawkie sold them 250 pounds of desperately needed grain and helped them transport it to the woods near Priest’s Grotto in his wagon. Nissel then ventured to the cave entrance, where his youngest brother, Shlomo, was waiting to make sure all was clear. Soon the men were lugging the heavy sacks to the cave.

Unknown to them, the Ukrainian police had watched them approach and were preparing for an ambush. When Nissel and Shulim reached the edge of the sinkhole, they slipped down the entrance shaft and, with Shlomo’s help, began pulling the sacks into the cave from below. “But one of the sacks got stuck,” Shulim said suddenly, shoving his shoulder against an imaginary obstacle in front of him. “And the entrance was blocked. No one could get in our out.”

Then the men heard footsteps above them. “We’re all here,” the men in the cave said to themselves. “So who’s outside?”

There was a barrage of bullets ricocheting into the cave’s narrow opening.

The next thing Shulim and Shlomo remember hearing was a barrage of bullets ricocheting into the cave’s narrow opening. The men took cover behind the boulders that had been used to blockade the entrance. Other than barring entry to the bottom of the shaft, the men were helpless against a full-scale assault.

But after the initial round of gunfire, the survivors never heard another shot. Local peasants who gathered around the grotto after the attack told the Ukrainian police that the Jews were armed and had secret exits all over the place, information that they believed to be true. Scared of what might await them at the bottom of the sinkhole, the officers didn’t attempt to enter but instead swept the fields looking for another way in. They found nothing.

“If that sack didn’t get stuck, we wouldn’t be here,” Shullim finally said. “It was one of many miracles.”

As the first snows began to fall across western Ukraine, the sinkhole drifted over, leaving no trace of the entrance. Underground, with enough food and fuel for more than two months, the men moved a massive boulder in front of the entry shaft and barricaded it with logs.

After seven months underground, the Jews’ fight for survival was becoming a war of attrition. Their meager diet of grain and soup lacked protein, calcium, and crucial vitamins, leaving them vulnerable to jaundice and scurvy. “I remember that I was always hungry,” the Stermers’ granddaughter, Pepkale, said. “I knew I mustn’t ask for more, but I used to say to my mother, ‘Couldn’t I have just a little bit more bread?’ But that was the ration for the day.” Many of the survivors would eventually dwindle to two-thirds their normal weight.

Yet, surrounded by family, the Stermers were able to draw on more than just physical courage and endurance to keep themselves alive. “We knew that our family would always be loyal to one another,” Pepkale said. “Even when things were at their words, you could always look around and see your sister, your mother, and the rest of your family. It helped us to remember what we were fighting for.”

Survival expert Kamler suggests that Pepkale’s view is more than sentiment. “The one thing that’s common to every survival story is the belief in something greater than yourself,” he says. “For the Jews hiding in the cave, it was their need to save their families. There’s no doubt that family was the number one factor in their survival.”

With only a few hours remaining until our planned rendezvous with our surface support team, Sergey appears in the entry room. During a two-hour soul, he’s rediscovered a chamber a half mile from Khatki that has graffiti written on the walls. Chris, Sasha, and I reach the room a few minutes later and find Sergey kneeling under a large crack between two sheets of bedrock. He rolls his face skyward, sending a curtain of soft orange light across the ceiling, where there are at least ten different inscriptions scrawled into the stone.

The first words Chris and I see are written in Ukrainian, some as recently as 2000. The others are the names of various local cavers who first explored this region of the cave some 40 years ago. When Chris first saw this chamber on one of his early trips, led by legendary Ukrainian caver Valery Rogozhnikov, these names were just graffiti. Now he sees something different. “My God,” I hear him whisper.

Directly above him, written in charcoal on the ceiling, are the words: “Stermer,” “Dodyk,” “K. Kurz,” “Salomon,” and “Wekselblad” – a name we knew was later anglicized to “Wexler.” Two feet farther down on the ceiling is the date “1943.”

The unique thing about caves, as compared with other environments, is the way history survives underground, almost as if in a vacuum. Above ground, buildings decay, memories fade, the past is gradually lost. But over our heads the five names look as bold as the day they’d been written: only a faint encrustation of tiny gypsum crystals – which grow continually on the cave walls – betrays the intervening six decades. Chris gazes at the names for a long while. After ten years of searching for the survivors, months of interviews, and three days of reconstructing the smallest details of their lives here in the cave, his mission is nearly complete.

* * *

As the winter of 1944 turned to spring, their friend, Munko, told the Stermer men that he could see bright, orange explosions over the eastern hills at night. Though it would be another year until the final collapse of Hitler’s Third Reich, the Russian front was quickly advancing west.

The message in the bottle read simply: “The Germans are already gone.”

The survivors greeted the news of their potential liberation with a mixture of elation and dread. Overhead, the front passed back and forth over the entrance to the sinkhole in a volley of artillery and small-arms fire, but beneath dozens of feet of solid bedrock, the Jews had no way of knowing when it was safe to come out. One morning in early April, Shlomo approached the bottom of the entrance shaft and saw a small bottle in the mud. The message in the bottle, dropped by a peasant friend, read simply: “The Germans are already gone.”

For ten more days the Stermer and their neighbors waited for the chaos to subside; then, on April 12, 1944, they stashed their tools and supplies deep inside the cave and squeezed one by one through Priest’s Grotto’s narrow entrance. Heavy snow had fallen over the previous week, and ice-cold water flowed into the shaft from above, covering them with mud. Outside the entrance, the Jews scaled the steep banks of the sinkhole and rose to stand in the blinding sunshine for the first time in 344 days.

At first, they stood motionless, barely able to recognize one another in the brilliant light reflecting off the snow. Their faces were jaundiced and drawn, their clothes were tattered, and they were caked with thick, yellow mud. In the distance, the road to Korolowka was littered with burnt-out German tanks and machinery, but for Esther and her family, the sight of their war-torn homeland was one of the most beautiful things they had ever seen.

Sixty years later, in the soft afternoon light of the Stermers’ living room in Montreal, the survivors recounted their memories of their liberation with quiet awe. Shulim was silent for the first time all afternoon, and Shlomo said repeatedly, “It was a beautiful, beautiful day.”

“When we came out the sun must have been shining,” Pepkale said. At five years old, she had spent nearly a third of her life underground. “I told my mother, I said, ‘Close the candle! Turn out the light!’ I couldn’t believe it. I had forgotten completely what the sun was.”

Their town of Korolowka had been almost completely destroyed. Of the more than 14,000 Jews that lived in the region before World War II, barely 300 had survived. Even with the Germans gone, Ukraine remained a dangerous place. After surviving the Nazi Holocaust, both Zaida Stermer and Fishel Dodyk were killed that summer by local Ukrainians.

Of the more than 14,000 Jews that lived in the region before World War II, barely 300 had survived.

The Stermers told no one about their underground refuge; who knew when they might need to take to it again? They abandoned Korolowka forever in June 1945, finally arriving at a displaced-persons camp in Fernwald, Germany, in November. They spent the next few weeks eating, showering, and sleeping securely for the first time in more than half a decade. Family photos from that period show the survivors dressed in tailored shirts and jackets and posing defiantly, as if nothing in the world could defeat them.

In 1947 the Stermers arrived in Canada. Nissel took up work as a butcher. Shulim found a factory job. Esther and her daughters became homemakers. The three brothers eventually found success in the construction business, drawing on many of the skills they had learned underground. Yet even among their closest friends, they talked little of their experiences.

Today, the Stermers’ survival saga continues to shape virtually everything about their lives. Some, like Pepkale, travel with small stashes of food to safeguard against the possibility of going hungry. Many of the survivors remain devoutly religious, both in spite of and because of their time underground.

As Chris and I prepared to leave, the Montreal skyline was going dark. Most of Shulim’s relatives were gone, and his apartment was still and quiet.

“When we get together like this and I see the grandchildren, and it’s an affair,” he said at the door, “I see the family and I see nice kids. And I say to myself, ‘It was worth the fight to survive.’ “

Click here to purchase "The Secrets of the Priest's Grotto: A Holocaust Survival Story," by Peter Lane Taylor, with Chris Nicola

About the Author

The opinions expressed in the comment section are the personal views of the commenters. Comments are moderated, so please keep it civil.

Visitor Comments: 75

(69)
Jeff,
May 5, 2016 12:40 PM

Regarding the Dodyks

The Dodyks are close relations of mine as we happen to share the same last name. Some of the family (including my grandfather Willian / Zeev) was lucky to escape the Holocaust by immigrating to Canada. One member of the family made aliyah but was killed in an Arab uprising in 1936. And the circle was completed when some members of my family made aliyah including myself. We were made aware of this story years ago when it first appeared in National Geographic Explorer magazine. Nice to see it repeated as it is a small, fascinating episode of Holocaust history.

(68)
RCML,
April 28, 2014 11:49 AM

THE WORLD WILL REMEMBER

With tears and a heart of compassion I now comment that this was a Remembrance of Holocaust Victims experiences that, among thousands of similar recollection stories, has made an impact on my respect and compassion of the Holocaust Victims.

Unfortunately, in this year of 2014, the same area of the world is still in turmoil and under siege.

The Day of Remembrance for the Holocaust Victims will never cease to be a day that should be remembered every day and by all people of the world; lest history repeat itself.

(67)
Anonymous,
March 27, 2014 6:31 PM

I truly am in love with this story but,I have a question that I have been trying to find the answer. When did Esther die and if it is too hard for you then its okay I understand and also I have made a project based of this story. I Love U :) <3

Anonymous,
October 23, 2016 6:25 PM

Esther Stermer

I think she died in the 1960's. Contact Shunia (Sonia)Hochman, from above pix. (they have first name wrong)She is the granddaughter who lives in New York.

(66)
Henk Tieben,
January 31, 2014 8:03 AM

respect

Deep respect for this story. And for the Jewish people whom where there at that time. Baruch Hashem. My colleague worker made me aware of this story and I was surprised to find it on the aish site. Thank you for this. I'm a 49 year old offshore crane operator from the Netherlands and I stand with Israel. I pray for the peace of Jerusalem as often I can. One day the world will see the truth about the Jewish people and there is no crying, pain and hate anymore. Let that day come soon.. All the best. Henk.

(65)
Neche Barad,
November 26, 2013 12:21 AM

MI y aunt Helen Stermer Barad and her husband David Goldyk survived in the cave

I stood in contact with her in Miami; but after my father died in 1991 I tried phoning but there was no answer to our letters or phones. I´m a jewish teacher in Buenos Aires and I´have read that Ester wrote her original in Yiddish. Could I see it? As you see is my english very weak. I´have her book in english: years ago I have made a copy of it in Yad Vashem in one of my visits, and if posible I would be interested and happy to have a contact with somebody of the family. I´ll be to New York probably at next april. My name is Neche Barad, daughter of Shmil Barad (Stermer) son of Yitzchok and Neche from Korolowka. I dont know what is the relationship with them. Thanks! Nechama.P.S. my fathers step-mother Beyle Barad changed his last name to Barad... Why?

Jerry Dodyk,
October 23, 2016 6:21 PM

My Parents were in the cave with the Stermer's

My Parents were Mendel & Yetta Dodyk. My Mother, Yetta was a sister to Ulo Barad's Father. Can not think of his first name at this moment. It will come to me.We came to America in August 1947. I was born in Bindermichel DP camp, Linz, Austria. Ok to e-mail me.Amazon has docudrama "No Place on Earth"Shulke, Shulim, Shunia Hochman still living in Montreal and in New York.

(64)
Alban,
March 30, 2013 1:29 PM

Be of Good courage... II Sam 10: 12

This is truly amazing real life story..a test of courage and endurance.. My heart goes out to all these people.. No words can express your Pain, your Patience and your Perseverance in the faith.Gamzu Letova... Indeed.I hope people around the world we realize and understand the Holocaust tragedies. Hopefully a movie on this comes out soon to share this truth.Shalom....

(63)
Rebitzen Shoshana Auerbach - Ravitch,
March 21, 2013 1:33 AM

You can see more about my family & epic their journey by checking out the Movie updates at this link.

My parents Sam Kittner and Fradel Dodyk as well as other relatives were also in this grotto and also told me some stories over the years about this. They never really wanted to talk about it. Truly amazing for sure. I mention this because I think it's important to make sure the names of ALL the people who were in that cave and the bravery they ALL demonstrated be documented for future generations. Hopefully, that will happen if a movie is ever made about this.

Rebitzen Shoshana Auerbach (Ravitch/Stermer),
March 20, 2013 8:30 PM

I'm a related to the Stermer's & they do speak about our in-laws the Dodyk's.

Read the article, it does speak about the Dodyk's!
I am related to the Stermer's, Esther Stermer is my great aunt & the rest cousins etc. Any questions please email me: Shoshanarivkah@yahoo.com
Mazel-Tov & Bracha v'Hatzlacha!!!
Rebitzen Shoshana Auerbach
Old City, Jerusalem

Charles,
May 6, 2013 6:36 PM

And what about everyone else?

Thank you Rebitzen. and no disrespect meant but perhaps if you have any questions you should ask? My parents, grandmother,1st uncles and 1st cousins were IN THE GROTTO. So where is mention of Shimon Kittner, Meyer Kawalik, Mendel Dodyk? or the Riebels? I could go on. This is all I'm saying. There were 38. Even on Yad Vashem, they don't mention all the others. I'm already seeing reviews and discussions about the movie where they say 38 members of the Stermer and Wexler families were in the grotto. I wish my family didn't have to go through this but at least if it going to be publicized, they should mention them all for the sake of their memories and history.

Hilary,
October 6, 2013 7:13 AM

Usha metzger?

In the NPR interview from 2004, one of the Dodyk's spoke of "my cousin, Usha Metzger" who supplied the gold to pay for their escape after capture from the first cave. My husband's grandfather, Abraham Metzger , was from Korolowka. I wonder if they are related?

Alan Kittner,
December 23, 2015 9:13 PM

Freida, Lieb and Shimon Kittner

Are you aware of Chaim Kittner? I just talked to Chaim's grandson, Hyman Lasner. His mother was Frieda Kittner. I am trying to determine if Hyman's grandfather (Chaim) might be a brother of my great-grandfather, Marcus (Mordechai) Kittner, also of Korolowka.

(61)
Ady,
April 19, 2012 5:08 AM

This is truly an amazing story, and of survival, courage and so on. Very moving. To me it was clearly HaShems will in order for them to survive in that era of evil, as the story portrays, they all have / had a future roll to play out in the greater scheme of things. But I can see that there is more to this story than meets the eye. This story deserves greater study and understanding, and how it my effect us in this era directly or indirectly now and in the future.

(60)
Caryl,
March 9, 2012 3:14 AM

This story makes me proud to be a JEW!

there aren't many stories that touch my heart. However, this one not only touched my heart but gave me the ability to recognize the meaning of life.
Thank you.

(59)
Anonymous,
April 7, 2011 3:04 AM

Awe inspiring

I've just very recently had the pleasure, and humbling experience of meeting one of the children of these survivors. The world needs to hear more of this story.

(58)
William,
October 29, 2010 11:57 PM

Wow!! What a fantastic story! What courage! It shows to what lenghths Jews will go to survive. And this is how we survived over the millenia: by using our heads and not bowing them. God bless them all! Shalom!

(57)
Anonymous,
October 23, 2010 4:43 AM

Wow indeed. I couldn't stop reading. It is such an amazing story. The Lord bless all of u.. At AISH!

(56)
Eileen Cohen,
October 23, 2010 3:24 AM

what an unbelievable story of survival and courage. I'm so glad that I was able to read this amazing story.

(55)
Anonymous,
October 19, 2010 11:51 PM

WOW-Thank G-d.

What an amazing story, legally blind, & being v. particular about what I choose 2 read these days, as my eyes get so sore & tired, I usually let my intuition take me in the right direction. I am grateful, I was guided 2 read this wonderful, inspirational story. What a heritage this family has left for their descendants. Congratulations seems so meaningless. I am awe struck.

(54)
Anonymous,
October 18, 2010 2:20 AM

Unbelievable story of will to survive. G-d bless them all. Shalom!

(53)
Anonymous,
October 17, 2010 10:51 PM

Wow

Wooooow.

(52)
Scott,
October 17, 2010 9:39 PM

Another miracle

My father was also a survivor and he taught me many of the lessons alluded to here. The most important is to remain faithful to G-d and family. I never tire of hearing these stories and my heart aches for those who survived as well as those who didn't. These people have made the world a better place just by sharing their memories.

(51)
Anonymous,
October 17, 2010 8:20 PM

Baruch Hashem...that they survived, and that you brought their amazing story to light.

(50)
jacob githendu,
October 17, 2010 6:46 PM

true devine protection

Our God will never forsake His truly chosen people, even though you may be unfaithful, he will never denies his promises they are yes and AMEN. What an amazing escape birthed by strong will to survive in the midst of hatred and persecution. Am inspired to fight on, try and never give up despite difficult hard times.

(49)
Nathan,
October 17, 2010 6:05 PM

GOD is good

Baruch Hasheem for providing protection for this small group of GOD's chosen people. It is stories like this that can reassure us that GOD will keep a remnant, no matter what the people / governments in charge wants.
I pray GOD will continue to show His mercy for the Jewish people and this family in particular.
I am goyim, but I believe in the one true GOD and in the fact that His chosen people are descendants of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob.

(48)
Ella Morgan,
October 17, 2010 5:54 PM

Awesome

Thank you for taking the time and making the effort to bring forth this wonderful story of the human will to survive on behalf of the family. I am so sorry for what has happened to the Jewish people throughout history. I have no known Jewish lineage but I believe I am a part of all Israel.

(47)
,
October 17, 2010 5:06 PM

kim

I read every word to and it grieves me as I see the world under such hate for G-d and Good, and for the Jews and the Christians too. People have to be blind to not see it coming like a hammer and forget that Islam worked with Hitler too. I have read many Hollcaust books ..every one should, maybe they would wake up to some truth. G-d bless Israel and pray for the peace of Jerusalem without ceasing

(46)
Devon Hargreaves,
July 15, 2010 6:43 PM

What can I say?

I read every word of this fascinatingly true story. This is how we Jews have survived, this is how we will continue to survive, by remaining true to our G-d and each other. What else can I say?

(45)
sara,
July 15, 2010 3:39 PM

Wow

Amazing story. Unbeleivable. Just amazing! Miracles of HASHEM!

(44)
Ekpe,
July 11, 2010 11:48 PM

VERY TOUCHING MIRACLE

This is s very very touching account of God's miracle to this family. Clearly providence had a hand in providing and protecting them, by making their assailants not to be overly interested in their capture-if not, the story would have gone the other way. This type of story needs to be repeated over and over again, so that the present generation will know that there is a supreme protector o f the Jewish people.

(43)
Joey,
May 31, 2010 9:32 PM

Truly a fascinating story. May God bless!

(42)
Anonymous,
April 30, 2010 12:25 PM

Reading this story made my heart ache and tears fell down my eyes.

(41)
Leah,
February 2, 2010 3:23 PM

Unbelievable! I cannot write because it iwll not do justice.

(40)
esther b,
December 29, 2009 9:56 PM

Just Amazing!!!! Had tears in my eyes the whole time!!! Thank you so much for inspiring me and reminding me what really counts!!!

(39)
Joan Levin Sacks,
November 8, 2009 1:46 AM

Thank you!

Please let us know when you will be in Phoenix/Scottsdale, AZ.

(38)
chris Nicola,
November 2, 2009 8:32 PM

Naples, Florida - Preist's Grotto Presentation Nov. 19th, 2009

Subject: Upcoming Naples, Florida Presentaion of a Holocaust Survival Story; a Holocaust Survival Story
Hi Everyone,
I am the co-author of "The Secret of Priest's Grotto; a Holocaust Survival Story" and thought that those of you who reside in Florida would be interested to know that I will be giving a presentation about my book on November 19th, 2009 in Naples, Florida. The details of this presentation are below, and you can find additional information on the Priest's Grotto story atf the following links:
NBC Today Show Video:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5279970/
Sierra/Tango Productions video about the upcoming documentary:
http://www.sierratangoproductions.com/
Regards,
Chris Nicola (please see below presentation details)
-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Thompson FN 05, FRGS
Chairman, Southwest Florida Chapter
The Explorers Club
THE SOUTHWEST FLORIDA CHAPTER OF THE EXPLORERS CLUB INVITES YOU TO AN EXCITING PRESENTATION
WHAT: SECRETS OF PRIESTS GROTTO- BY CHRIS NICOLA, FR,
Fascinating story of human survival and courage about the Jews who hid out in one of the worlds longest caves for a year while the Nazis were searching for them.
Book signing after the meeting.
Where: Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) Renaissance Center, 1010 Fifth Ave South,
Naples, Florida
When: Thursday, November 19, 2009
Doors open 6:15 PM, Starts 6:45PM
Dress Naples Causal. Free and Public is invited.
Please RSVP - Jim Thompson via email at otexplorer@gmail.com or via phone at 727-204-4550
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Chris Nicola Alternate address: chrisofuaycef@gmail.com, Hm
Phone: 718 204-8373 Wk Phone: 212 866-2310.

(37)
chaya,
October 21, 2009 7:29 PM

continuing the chain

the last line says it all. It's the secret to Jewish Survival. Continuing the Chain of Jewish Survival generation by generation.

(36)
Anonymous,
October 20, 2009 2:42 PM

So few non-Jews with a conscience in this town....

I suppose the Holy One would have sent them others who would have helped, but they would not have survived without Munko L. and Semen S. If your religion does not teach you to exercise your conscience where the rubber meets the road, what good is it?

(35)
Christos Nicola - The Caver Featured in the Article,
October 19, 2009 10:02 PM

Dedicated website for the Priest's Grotto Story

You can find additional information about the story featured in mine and Peter Lane Taylor's book, The Secret of Priest's Grotto by going to www.priestgrotto.com , where you will also find information about my upcoming presentations in New York, New Jersey, Texas, Conneticut and Florida (click on the "Upcoming Trips/Events" link).

(34)
Jessica Horwitz,
October 19, 2009 2:47 PM

Share the inspiring story with your community

Authors Peter Lane Taylor and caver Chris Nicola are available for school and community programs. It is a wonderful way to share this inspiring story with members of your community. Please email me at jhorwitz@karben.com for more information.

(33)
Anonymous,
October 19, 2009 9:52 AM

That was the most beautiful and courageous story(true)that I have read. Thank You so much. It sure makes you thankful for the small things in life that some times seem bothersome. They sure do seem so small. Glory to G-d almighty for getting them all through such a horrific time in their life and being so Faithful to them. Thank You.

(32)
beth,
October 19, 2009 12:59 AM

Such an amazing story, such amazing people. It feels good to be reminded that my own problems are so very small. Thank you.

(31)
Anonymous,
October 18, 2009 10:45 AM

This is the most inspiring story I've read in a very long time. Thank you for letting your
readers know about it. I'm purchasing the book.

(30)
Anonymous,
October 18, 2009 10:28 AM

One can only speculate as to what kind of person would fill the cave entrance in, with nothing
to gain by it but the knowledge that one had committed mass murder in an incredibly malicious
way. I couldn't live with myself. Who knows if I'd be brave enough to help ? But not this.

(29)
Debbie Litwack,
October 18, 2009 1:51 AM

How would WE fare today G-d forbid we needed to!

Amazing! We live in such a "cushy" world in America where terror mostly seems far away. This story makes me wonder what I'd be made of if I became a victim!

(28)
Jeffery,
October 17, 2009 2:57 AM

I love histroy and I am grateful this histroy has been recorded. I am a retired US military office who was stationed in Germany. I am teching my child what ignorace and hate has done and can do. NEVER AGAIN.
Thanks again for this wonderful article.

(27)
jojo,
October 16, 2009 9:45 AM

SHOULD BE A MOVIE

THIS WOULD MAKE AN AMAZING MOVIE! ONE OF THE BEST STORIES I'VE HAD THE PRIVILEGE READING. AMAZING

(26)
jongadel,
October 16, 2009 12:11 AM

thank you for this article of jewish survival in the holocaust

i stumbled across this link
like most jews, i lost relatives during the holcaust
i was very lucky that my grandfather came to the USA iin the early 1920's.... but he lost relatives that stayed in hungary...
God bles, America

(25)
Bill Sundling,
October 15, 2009 11:08 PM

An amazing story. It explains what real hardship is.

It's just an amazing story. It's a good lesson for us today about the kind of hardships people from other places and/or times experience. As for me, I was disappointed when my car wouldn't start on Saturday and I couldn't go out for breakfast.

(24)
Anonymous,
October 15, 2009 9:18 PM

Amazing.

(23)
Richard Hay,
October 15, 2009 9:04 PM

A Termendous Story

I've read of the struggles of Jewish people in the ghettos during WWII but I had never heard of this account. I have to say it brought tears of anguish for the families and yet pride of renewal and hope for them as they survived a most evil and horrendous period. Thank you to the families for sharing their story. This story must be told to our youth as an example of the immense dangers of fascism and their incredible will to survive in defiance of incalculable odds. I hope you can some day make this into a movie. The world needs to hear this story.

(22)
aris,
October 15, 2009 4:01 AM

keep it hard to survive

I was really amazed with the story of their family, and it was very inspiring for others to fight to survive.......it should to be film

(21)
Danial F Lisarelli,
October 15, 2009 3:56 AM

Shalom

May God Bless you and all your family. I would do the same for mine. Shalom!

(20)
Anna D,
October 14, 2009 10:53 PM

Incredible and Inspiring

I can't believe it at the same time what a testament to faith and how strong we are. Nothing in my life can be compared to this.

(19)
frank grelle,
October 14, 2009 9:23 PM

this story would make a great moive!!!

this story would make a great moive!!!,if hollywood still made great movies this would be one!!!....f.grelle

(18)
KIRCHE,
October 14, 2009 4:51 PM

wow.

(17)
Margaret,
October 14, 2009 4:41 PM

Spielberg needs to make this a movie

What a remarkable story! Wish Spielberg could do his
movie magic on this one. Miss the quality, movies
from the past, instead of the garbage Hollywood is
cranking out now!

(16)
Kevin Rogers,
October 13, 2009 10:47 PM

Wow

This needs to be made into a film, it is one of those stories that is a testament to human ingenuity, the horrors of the holocaust and God's grace and mercy.

(15)
Stellam,
October 13, 2009 8:57 PM

so much suffering for Jewish people.

Amazing story!
I know that my grandma is also survived by miracle. She lost all her family, very big family, who were buried alive by Nazi in Ukraine. I wish I also could find about her family ordeal.

(14)
Chaya Weisberg,
October 13, 2009 8:55 PM

Thank you so much for sharing this incredible survival. I think about what these people sacrificed in order to survive just with their lives and reflect 'what would I sacrifice to live up to my ideal self'. They are heroes, may we learn from their strength and do all that we can in life with the little bit of sacrifice it takes of us.

(13)
Miriam,
October 13, 2009 6:17 PM

The Hand of Hashem

The Hand of Hashem is embedded on every aspect of the miraculous survival of these remarkable members of Am Yisroel. May Hashem continue to bless them with strength, love and peace.

(12)
Candra Campbell,
October 13, 2009 4:21 PM

What an amazing story.

A true testament to the power of the Almighty and the resilience He instills in us all.

(11)
Lin,
October 12, 2009 9:18 PM

Wonderful true account

Amazing true account of the power of survival, love and the Almighty at work. Really touched my heart what these precious people had to go through to live. I have so many daily blessings and conveniences..

(10)
ruth housman,
October 12, 2009 9:08 PM

of courage and survival

an amazing story with great depth. I mean this on all levels.
I am about to teach a section of a course on art and it's about caves. I found this article intensely moving in every possible way and have emailed this on. with thanks

(9)
Anonymous,
October 12, 2009 6:06 PM

Every year for the second day of Rosh Hashanah I go to my sister's in Montreal where we celebrate with many, including her good friends, the Stermers. I remember my sister mentioning to me their parents survived in caves but not paying that much attention. It was unbelievable to me to read this story and see what was behind my sister's casual comment.

(8)
Mordechai Erez,
October 12, 2009 5:57 PM

Incredible real story

There are quite a few other incredible stories of survivers
of the holocaust. Actually ,almost any surviver has his own special story, telling how he managed to survive.
Thank you for your huge efforts to tell us this uniqe story.

(7)
Goldie Klein,
October 12, 2009 5:43 PM

Their courage, determination to live, remarkable faith and hope defies ALL imagination! There are simply no words to express the admiration and astonishment of their incredible courage. Hashem truly helps those who can overcome all obstacles ...with their faith and will to live.

(6)
A. Kunanusorn,
October 12, 2009 3:47 PM

Interesting to learn history of Jews, and war history.

I think that young generations must learn about past experience that how people survive from wars. I am asian but like to learn and know story about war.

(5)
monica,
October 12, 2009 3:34 PM

The Almighty must have a mighty purpose for this family.The story is unbelievable and should be in a movie specially for the ones denying the Holocaust. Please share it with the world as the lesson is : never despair and trust in G-d.

(4)
Anonymous,
October 12, 2009 2:33 PM

Another truth to prove Iranian President's lies

I am not Jewish, but I pray for the Jewish people and the peace of Jerusalem and all Israel daily.
I send these kinds of articles to all in my address book - family and friends.
I love Aish.com and especially the rabbi who places my prayers on The Wall.

(3)
David,
October 11, 2009 4:36 PM

These stories must not be lost

So few of the youth know of history of WWII and the Holocaust it is frightening. It is important that they be reminded of them. The Generation that survive are dying off and much knowledge and history will be lost. More details must be written. Thank you for the work

(2)
Mark Grosz,
October 11, 2009 3:14 PM

Amazing story

What an amazing story.

(1)
Christos Nicola,
October 11, 2009 2:17 PM

The Related Book, Documentary & Genocide Awareness Project

As one of the co-authors of "The Secret of Priest's Grotto", a book which features the amazing story of how 38 Jews survived the Holocaust by taking refuge in a cave, I would like to call everyone's attention to the below listed Web sites:
-See a video about the upcoming documentary at:
http://www.sierratangoproductions.com/
-A Site dedicated to the book, movie & documentary:
http://www.priestgrotto.com
-A site dedicated to the Priest's Grotto Heritage Project, which seeks to honor those who lived in Priest's Grotto Cave by having the grand children of that generation which persecuted the Jews of Ukraine work with the grand children of those who lived in the cave by building a permanent exhibit at a museum near the cave:
http://www.geocities.com/pipeline/curb/8151/donate/donaterequest.html
Regards,
Chris Nicola (www.chrisnicola.com)

I've been striving to get more into spirituality. But it seems that every time I make some progress, I find myself slipping right back to where I started. I'm getting discouraged and feel like a failure. Can you help?

The Aish Rabbi Replies:

Spiritual slumps are a natural part of spiritual growth. There is a cycle that people go through when at times they feel closer to God and at times more distant. In the words of the Kabbalists, it is "two steps forward and one step back." So although you feel you are slipping, know that this is a natural process. The main thing is to look at your overall progress (over months or years) and be able to see how far you've come!

This is actually God's ingenious way of motivating us further. The sages compare this to teaching a baby how to walk. When the parent is holding on, the baby shrieks with delight and is under the illusion that he knows how to walk. Yet suddenly, when the parent lets go, the child panics, wobbles and may even fall.

At such times when we feel spiritually "down," that is often because God is letting go, giving us the great gift of independence. In some ways, these are the times when we can actually grow the most. For if we can move ourselves just a little bit forward, we truly acquire a level of sanctity that is ours forever.

Here is a practical tool to help pull you out of the doldrums. The Sefer HaChinuch speaks about a great principle in spiritual growth: "The external awakens the internal." This means that although we may not experience immediate feelings of closeness to God, eventually, by continuing to conduct ourselves in such a manner, this physical behavior will have an impact on our spiritual selves and will help us succeed. (A similar idea is discussed by psychologists who say: "Smile and you will feel happy.")

That is the power of Torah commandments. Even if we may not feel like giving charity or praying at this particular moment, by having a "mitzvah" obligation to do so, we are in a framework to become inspired. At that point we can infuse that act of charity or prayer with all the meaning and lift it can provide. But if we'd wait until being inspired, we might be waiting a very long time.

May the Almighty bless you with the clarity to see your progress, and may you do so with joy.

In 1940, a boatload 1,600 Jewish immigrants fleeing Hitler's ovens was denied entry into the port of Haifa; the British deported them to the island of Mauritius. At the time, the British had acceded to Arab demands and restricted Jewish immigration into Palestine. The urgent plight of European Jewry generated an "illegal" immigration movement, but the British were vigilant in denying entry. Some ships, such as the Struma, sunk and their hundreds of passengers killed.

If you seize too much, you are left with nothing. If you take less, you may retain it (Rosh Hashanah 4b).

Sometimes our appetites are insatiable; more accurately, we act as though they were insatiable. The Midrash states that a person may never be satisfied. "If he has one hundred, he wants two hundred. If he gets two hundred, he wants four hundred" (Koheles Rabbah 1:34). How often have we seen people whose insatiable desire for material wealth resulted in their losing everything, much like the gambler whose constant urge to win results in total loss.

People's bodies are finite, and their actual needs are limited. The endless pursuit for more wealth than they can use is nothing more than an elusive belief that they can live forever (Psalms 49:10).

The one part of us which is indeed infinite is our neshamah (soul), which, being of Divine origin, can crave and achieve infinity and eternity, and such craving is characteristic of spiritual growth.

How strange that we tend to give the body much more than it can possibly handle, and the neshamah so much less than it needs!